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observations over the past few days
Oct. 9th, 2009 07:41 pm1) 16 hours of driving for 9 hours at Disneyland is actually not quite as good a trade as I remember thinking it was when I was 23.
2) The thing they do now of turning the Haunted Mansion into a Nightmare Before Christmas ride during the holiday months isn't exactly terrible, but... no, I take that back, yes it is, it's terrible. Guys, if you want a ride based on that movie, make one. Don't spray graffiti on the fucking Mona Lisa. Even if it's reasonably good graffiti--and it is--it is not okay.
3) However, I quite liked most of the changes to Pirates of the Caribbean, and Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters rocked.
4) A thousand thanks to Disney guest services for offering autistic kids the option of bypassing most of the lines. I feel a little guilty for taking advantage of it in a way, because lord knows you don't have to be autistic to be stressed out by crowds and noise and long boring waits... but oh, it was such a huge help.
5) The birthday button they gave Ben to wear, prompting every cast member (and quite a few random pasesers-by) to wish him a happy birthday and the New Orleans Square jazz band to sing to him: A very nice touch.
6) I was going to say here that eight years old turns out to be little too young to really appreciate Disneyland. And this shouldn't be surprising, as I remember my own first visit--at about the same age--being of mixed success, marked by whining and meltdowns. But I didn't remember this until later, and so it did take me by surprise when Ben thoroughly enjoyed the first few rides and then announced he'd had enough of Disneyland and would like to leave now... which is an idea that works fine when it's the Boardwalk and we only drove five minutes to get there and didn't pay $144 for tickets to get in, but doesn't work nearly so well when the parents have invested a lot in the trip, besides which they love the place and want to go ride the other 30 rides right now please. So there was some Conflict, and some Tiredness, and some Whining, and some more Conflict, and I was worried that he'd remember it mostly as a big overwhelming stressful experience. But then I asked him about it just now and was dreamily informed that "Disneyland was amaaaaaazing", so I guess the lesson is: Eight years old is enough to appreciate the place on an eight-year-old level. And hooray for that.
2) The thing they do now of turning the Haunted Mansion into a Nightmare Before Christmas ride during the holiday months isn't exactly terrible, but... no, I take that back, yes it is, it's terrible. Guys, if you want a ride based on that movie, make one. Don't spray graffiti on the fucking Mona Lisa. Even if it's reasonably good graffiti--and it is--it is not okay.
3) However, I quite liked most of the changes to Pirates of the Caribbean, and Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters rocked.
4) A thousand thanks to Disney guest services for offering autistic kids the option of bypassing most of the lines. I feel a little guilty for taking advantage of it in a way, because lord knows you don't have to be autistic to be stressed out by crowds and noise and long boring waits... but oh, it was such a huge help.
5) The birthday button they gave Ben to wear, prompting every cast member (and quite a few random pasesers-by) to wish him a happy birthday and the New Orleans Square jazz band to sing to him: A very nice touch.
6) I was going to say here that eight years old turns out to be little too young to really appreciate Disneyland. And this shouldn't be surprising, as I remember my own first visit--at about the same age--being of mixed success, marked by whining and meltdowns. But I didn't remember this until later, and so it did take me by surprise when Ben thoroughly enjoyed the first few rides and then announced he'd had enough of Disneyland and would like to leave now... which is an idea that works fine when it's the Boardwalk and we only drove five minutes to get there and didn't pay $144 for tickets to get in, but doesn't work nearly so well when the parents have invested a lot in the trip, besides which they love the place and want to go ride the other 30 rides right now please. So there was some Conflict, and some Tiredness, and some Whining, and some more Conflict, and I was worried that he'd remember it mostly as a big overwhelming stressful experience. But then I asked him about it just now and was dreamily informed that "Disneyland was amaaaaaazing", so I guess the lesson is: Eight years old is enough to appreciate the place on an eight-year-old level. And hooray for that.
